Poor shooting and missed opportunities plagued Bermuda in a 71-64 defeat to Antigua yesterday in the Caribbean Basketball Confederation Championships in the British Virgin Islands.

The loss ended Bermuda’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals and puts them in the consolation bracket for the remainder of the tournament.

Bermuda mounted a dramatic comeback bid, but it was not enough in a game that saw a dismal six of 30 three-point effort from coach Roderick Spencer’s squad.

Antigua jumped on the board early and never looked back, starting the game with a 10-2 run during which Steven Simons, the Bermuda guard, missed three three-pointers. This set the tone for the game as Bermuda’s long ball, which was a strength for them in wins over Guyana and Suriname, deserted them in their final preliminary round matchup.

After taking a timeout midway through the first quarter, Bermuda regained momentum with a full court drive and assist by captain Sullivan Phillips to John Lee to spark an 8-0 run that tied things up at 10.

However, a well-timed three- pointer and dunk from Ernest Scott, the Antigua captain, helped his team push ahead 16-10 before the end of the first. Scott would lead all scorers on the day with 19 points.

Bermuda’s three-point drought lasted until a minute into the second quarter when guard Chris Crumpler finally got one to fall to stem a zero of eight start for his team.

Bermuda failed to keep momentum going and Antigua pulled away behind a strong scoring run punctuated by an athletic dunk on an alley-oop pass to himself by forward Raviel Burton after getting past Crumpler.

The half ended with Antigua up 33-23.

The third quarter was more of the same with Crumpler and the team missing repeatedly from downtown.

The Bermuda guard, who was First Team All-Conference in his time at Flagler College, finished with 15 points on the day, connecting on only five of his 21 shots.

However, with Antigua up 55-36 near the end of the third and threatening to run away with the game, Bermuda found their rhythm and began to press, going on an 8-0 run to end the quarter sparked by one of Crumpler’s three three-pointers in the game.

Bermuda came out of the break energised, forcing a quick turnover. Philips capitalised with the jumper to make it 55-46. Jonathan Lowe knocked down a baseline jumper to close the gap to seven, then spun through the paint off of a pick and roll for the layup to close the gap to five.

Bermuda continued to push with Yusef Riley diving for a rebound and converting the shot to make it 55-52, but a timely three by Antigua guard Lennox McCoy slowed their momentum.

Bermuda continued to fight late in the fourth but could not get within striking distance of Antigua’s lead the rest of the way, with Crumpler fouling out with less than a minute to play.

Six foot eleven inch centre Kurt Looby was dominant in the paint all day for the Antiguans, finishing with six points, 11 rebounds, and seven blocks.

Simons finished with just two points for Bermuda on one of six attempts. Phillips finished with 13 points, seven rebounds, and four assists to go along with three steals on defence.

Bermuda will play today in the consolation bracket at 3pm.